Meditation Written by
Fr. Francis Geremia, C.S.

IN THE NAME OF JESUS – IN THE NAME OF MARY

LET US BEGIN BY MEDITATING ON THE NAME OF MARY, for with her Yes to the Angel, Mary is the one who even today leads us to her Son and helps us to honor Jesus, our only Savior.

I remember that, as a child, in our parish we often sang the hymn: “Sweetest name, name of love: you are the refuge for sinners. Among the angelic choirs, happy harmony; Hail Mary, Hail Mary…”

And also, in the Hymn “Laudate Mariam”: Sing on earth, sing up in heaven, the name of the Mother, the Mother of Jesus.

12/9/91: “In the name of your heavenly Mother, yes, in the name of Mary, the Turks were defeated, when they laid siege to the city of Vienna and threatened to invade and destroy the whole Christian world.  They were far superior in strength, in numbers and in weapons, and they felt that their victory was assured.  But I was publicly invoked and called upon; my name was inscribed upon their banners and shouted out by the soldiers, and thus through my intercession, there took place the miracle of this victory which saved the Christian world from its destruction.  It is for this reason that the Pope instituted, on this day, the feast of the Name of Mary.”

The Liturgy can teach us about the necessity of invoking the Name of Mary.

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In the Holy Mass of the Holy Name of Mary, we thus pray: "O God, whose only Son, dying on the Cross, wished to give us the Virgin Mary chosen as our Mother, grant that we, who entrust ourselves to her protection, may experience the power and sweetness of her name."

Then, in the preface, we have first the teaching of the name of Jesus and then the name of Mary: "In his name is all our salvation: before him every knee bends in heaven, on earth and under the earth.

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In your providence you have willed that the name of Mary should also resound on the lips of the faithful; the Christian people turn to her as a shining star, they invoke her as their Mother and in time of danger they turn to her as a sure refuge."

In Rome, a church in the Forum of Trajan was dedicated to the Holy Name of Mary.                 

The promoters who honored the Holy Name of Mary included: St. Anthony of Padua, St. Bernard, St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, as well as a number of religious orders, such as the Cistercians and the Servites. At least in the beginning, the name Mary was also added to the name of the individual religious.

The best interpretation of this Holy Name was 'Star of the Sea'. St Jerome suggests that Mary's name means 'Lady', based on the Aramaic word Mar, which means Lord. In his book 'The Wondrous Childhood of the Most Holy Mother of God', St. John Eudes gives us 17 interpretations of the name of Mary, taken from the Holy Fathers and from famous Doctors of the Church.

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We will only focus on three of them.  As we have already seen, after the name of Jesus, there is no name sweeter, more powerful, more consoling than that of Mary; a name before which the Angels bow reverently, the earth rejoices, and hell trembles.

Sea: from the Hebrew Maryam, a name suited to express the superabundance of graces poured out upon her. As indeed all rivers flow into the ocean, so were all the treasures of heavenly graces, all the sublime prerogatives and charisms poured out upon the soul of the Virgin, who is called: "Mother of graces".

Bitterness: this is also very appropriate for the Virgin, whose heart swam in a sea of anguish, precisely as the Prophet had foretold: "Immense as the sea is thy sorrow". Just as the Virgin had been filled with grace more than all the Saints, so more than all of them did she have to drink the bitter cup of the passion of her Son Jesus.
 

Star: With this title, the Church invokes the Virgin in the beautiful hymn 'Ave, Maris Stella'. St. Bernard wisely weaves into this meaning the most beautiful pages of eloquence and the most consoling considerations: "She is the pure and glorious star that rises out of Jacob and enlightens the whole world; her light shines in the heavens and penetrates the abyss, and, traversing the earth, inflames every heart with divine love, cherishing virtue and destroying vice. She is the bright and sweet star of Providence raised above the deep sea of the universe, enlightening it by her example. Mary is also jubilation to the heart, a gentle melody to the ear, a healing balm for every kind of misery; just as the rainbow marks the end of a storm and announces the return of calm, so the name of Mary, entering into a soul, keeps sin away from it and disposes it to peace with the Lord."

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Once again St. Bernard describes our life as compared to a ship at the mercy of the threatening waves of the sea. We are all familiar with that beautiful sermon of his which we can call, “Call upon Mary!”

Therefore, in our journey of life, we must call upon the name of Mary every day, but especially in our journey to holiness and in the final battle towards eternity.

Let us listen to the rest of the message we quoted earlier, and which should be a confirmation that Our Mother will never abandon us!

“In the name of Mary, Marxist communism, which for decades had been exercising its rule and holding so many of my poor children in oppressive and bloody slavery, had been defeated in these countries. Not because of political movements or persons, but through my personal intervention, has your liberation finally come about. It will again be in the name of Mary that I will bring to completion my work with the defeat of Masonry, of every diabolical force, of materialism, and of practical atheism, so that all humanity will be able to attain its encounter with the Lord and be thus purified and completely renewed, with the triumph of my Immaculate Heart in the world.

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It is for this reason that I desire that the feast in honor of the name of Mary be restored, now that you are entering into the fiercest moments of the struggle and the most painful stage of the great tribulation. From this, my Shrine, I look upon those countries which have still preserved the feast of the name of your heavenly Mother, and I promise them my special and motherly protection. In particular, I bless this land of Slovakia, where I am so loved, venerated and more and more glorified.” (12/9/91)

This message is a true description of the plan Our Lady has always had, especially for us who live in these such dangerous years.

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That is to say, it refers to the history of this world which is always hostile to the God of Peace and in particular always an enemy of Catholicism.

In St. Faustina's Diary we read that one day Satan took her to Hell, to a narrow cubicle, with menacing snakes hanging from the ceiling. She began to cry out to Jesus for help; but the snakes were still there, ready to kill her. At last the Saint invoked the name of Mary. Immediately the serpents disappeared. Then Jesus appeared to her and almost apologetically told her that Satan is more afraid of Mary than of Himself, because Satan remembers well the Father's condemnation against him.

We too must do our part:

Our consecration to Her Immaculate Heart implies our commitment to be obedient to our Queen. 22/8/76

“I am your Leader. I am calling you, my beloved sons, to gather you all into my cohort, of which I myself am the Queen and the Leader. Therefore there should be no leader among you: you are all brothers, united in love that must grow ever more and more. If anyone wishes to become the greatest, let him become truly the least. Only he who loves the most, who serves the most, who listens to me the most, who becomes ever smaller to the point of disappearing in my Immaculate Heart is the one whom I myself will make ever greater. I am your Leader. You therefore, my beloved ones, must listen to my voice, be docile to my teachings and above all be prompt and obedient to my orders. I want to make of you sons who want to obey, who always know how to obey. Obedience and docility: this is the livery in which I wish to attire you.”

She is truly our leader. Therefore we fight and live in the name of Mary!

The Hail Mary culminates with the phrase "blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus". The name of Jesus is at the center of the Hail Mary; the Rosary is focused on the name of Jesus, that is where its power comes from: we pray in the name of Jesus and Mary. With our death in mind, Our Lady gave us the beautiful message entitled: "Now and at the hour of our death". We can therefore say: blessed are those who die pronouncing the name of Mary.

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2/11/92: How many times, as you recite the holy Rosary, have you repeated this prayer to me: ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death!’ This is an invocation which I listen to with great joy, and it is always heard by me.  If, as Mother, I am close to each one of my children at the hour of death, I am especially close to you who, through your consecration, have always lived in the secure refuge of my Immaculate Heart. At the hour of your death, I am close to you, with the splendor of my glorified body; I receive your souls into my motherly arms, and I bring them before my Son Jesus, for his particular judgment. Think of how joyful must be the meeting of Jesus with those souls who are presented to Him by his very own Mother!  This is because I cover them with my beauty; I give them the perfume of my holiness, the innocence of my purity, the white robe of my charity; and where there remains some stain, I run my motherly hand over it to wipe it away and to give you that brightness which makes it possible for you to enter into the eternal happiness of paradise. Blessed are those who die close to your heavenly Mother. Yes, blessed, because they die in the Lord, they will find rest from their labors, and their good deeds will follow them. My beloved ones and children consecrated to my Immaculate Heart, today I invite you to enter into a great intimacy with me during your life, if you wish to experience the great joy of seeing me close to you”.

A verse from the song 'Quando nell'ombra' (When the dusk is approaching) comes to mind: “And when at the end of my life, before I render my soul to God, I will say again in my agony: Ave Maria, Ave…”

How devotion to the name of Mary became official in the Roman Church

In the Roman Church, devotion to the name of Mary, enriched by the popes with special indulgences, dates back to the middle of the 12th century. Its official introduction was promoted by Pope Innocent XI (Blessed Benedict Odescalchi) who, by decree of 5 February 1685, extended its celebration to the entire Catholic Church. The anniversary was to commemorate the Holy Mass celebrated in Vienna on 12 September 1683 by Blessed Mark of Aviano to propitiate the victory of the Holy League in the Battle of Vienna, whose leaders were Emperor Leopold I of Austria and King John III Sobieski of Poland, who served Mass on that occasion.

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The day before, 11 September 1683, the two Catholic rulers had begun the Battle of Vienna, which led to the liberation of the Austrian capital from the siege of the Ottoman Turks on 17 September 1683.

The Ambrosian Rite establishes the degree of obligatory memory for this celebration.

For this feast day, the Ambrosian liturgy has chosen its own readings as an alternative to those of the day:

Reading - Cant 1:2-6b : Your name spoken is a spreading perfume.

Psalm - Ps 31:2-4.8-9 - Ref.: Save us, Lord, for the name of Mary.

Gospel acclamation - cf. Ps 22:23 : I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise you among your assembled people.

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Gospel – Lk 1:26-28: The Virgin’s name was Mary.

14/6/80 “I am the Woman Clothed with the Sun, I am in the Heart of the Most Holy Trinity. Until I am acknowledged there where the Most Holy Trinity has willed me to be, I will not be able to exercise my power fully, in the maternal work of co-redemption and of the universal mediation of graces.  For this reason, as the battle between me and my Adversary entered its decisive phase, he tried by every means to obscure the mission of your heavenly Mother.”

“I am in the Heart of the Most Holy Trinity”. This is how Our Mother refers to herself, precisely because God Himself has willed it. For she is the Beloved Daughter of the Father, the Mother of the Son and the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Not only is she the Mediatrix between us and Jesus, but she is also Coredemptrix.

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St Paul, indeed, said: 'I complete what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ'. Then Our Mother, in all her apparitions, has asked us to pray and offer our sufferings for the salvation of sinners. In other words, God has entrusted to us the salvation of those who may not be saved if we do not pray and offer for their salvation. That is, we too become co-redeemers in a small way. The truth of Our Lady Coredemptrix is also based on this principle in an eminent way, because the offering of Jesus throughout his life, culminating in the Cross, was satisfied, aided and truly carried out in his pierced Heart by the offering of His Mother, who consented like God the Father to the sacrifice of her Son for us.

That is why we pray in the name of Jesus and, in Him, also in the name of Mary.

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April 1, 1974 “Even my son Jesus willed to offer to the Father all his sufferings through and with me.  And it was thus that, offering my Son freely to the Father, I became true Co-redemptrix. Let these children of mine offer me all their sufferings, all their misunderstandings, all their difficulties.  This is the greatest gift that they can give me, because in this way they allow me to carry out in time — in this, your time  — my task as Mother and Co-redemptrix.  I will save many souls redeemed by Jesus, but at present so far away from Him, because my sons, together with me, will pay for them.”

 July 13, 1980 “My motherly task is that of helping my children in every way to attain salvation; and today still, it is that of co-operating in a very special way in the redemption accomplished by my Son Jesus.  My role as true Mother and Co-redemptrix will become manifest to all. I want to carry out this action today through you, my beloved sons.  This is why I have wanted to withdraw myself into the desert of your life, where I have set up my safe refuge.”

Paul VI wrote in Marialis cultus: “The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is an intrinsic element of Christian worship” [56].

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In Lumen Gentium, the Council says: “This plan was fulfilled through the incarnation in the power of the Holy Spirit; but with the essential contribution of a woman, the Virgin Mary, who became an integral part of the economy of the Trinity in its communication with mankind” (53).

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From the Lectionary on Mariology "Mary's co-operation, with her merits and satisfactions, particularly on Calvary, in the price of Redemption. Mary's co-operation was a true formal co-operation, both because she freely consented to the redemptive Incarnation, begetting and nourishing the Priest and Victim of the redemptive Sacrifice, and because during her life she united her Faith, Obedience and Charity, her sufferings, especially under the Cross, to those of her divine Son, longing to unite with Him for the redemption of mankind.

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That is, God arranged that the redemption of men should come about not only through the merits and satisfactions of Christ, but also through those of Mary." According to some theologians, therefore, Mary's merits had a true co-redemptive value for the redemption of mankind.

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These theologians conclude that "God decreed redemption in his eternal plan, which without the collaboration of Mary -the New Eve and Christ the new Adam- redemption would not have taken place."

One author imagines Jesus speaking to him as follows: “I offered myself to the Father from the altar of My Mother’s Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. She accepted, consenting to bear the full weight of My sacrifice, to be the very place from which My holocaust of love would be set ablaze. She, in turn, offered herself with Me to the Father from the altar of My Sacred Heart. There she immolated herself, becoming a victim with Me for the redemption of the world. Her offering was set ablaze in My holocaust by the descent of the Holy Spirit. Thus, from our two hearts become two altars, there rose the sweet fragrance of one single offering: My oblation upon the altar of her heart, and her oblation upon the altar of Mine. This, in fact, is what is meant when, using another language, you speak of My Mother as Co-Redemptrix. Our two hearts have formed but a single holocaust of love in the Holy Spirit.”

That is why saying in the name of Jesus is also, in some way, saying in the name of Mary!

She invites us to be missionaries.  Go in my name. «Go in my name along the roads of this continent and bring to all the light of my motherly and merciful presence.

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Go in my name to search out my children who have strayed along the painful ways of sin and of evil.  You see how your society has again become pagan, the victim of materialism, of the mad search for pleasure, of unbridled egoism, of violence, of injustice and of impurity.  How many are my poor children who suffer and carry the weight of this hardness of heart, which turns the earth into an immense desert, devoid of love.

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Go in my name, and bring to all the tenderness of my motherly love.  Seek out the lost; support the weak; lead the uncertain; pardon the sinners; reach out to those who are far away; heal the sick; give your priestly assistance to the poor and the little ones; bow down to pour balm on the open wounds of those stricken and those smitten by violence and hatred; take them into your arms, and carry them all into the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart.

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Go in my name, and bring my motherly comfort to the Church which is suffering so much here and walking toward the Calvary of her immolation.  My Adversary, during these years, has stricken her forcefully, in the shepherds and in the flock.  How many sufferings the Church in your countries has endured; how many abandonments has she had to experience; how much bitterness has she drunk from the chalice of her daily faithfulness to Christ and to his Gospel! I have always been close to her, as I was to Jesus beneath the Cross.  And in this, her painful journey, the Church which lives in Latin America has felt the comfort and the assistance of your heavenly Mother... 

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Go in my name to bring the light of my faith, my invitation to hope and the ardor of my charity to those who are entrusted to your priestly ministry.  My beloved sons, go forward with courage along the painful roads of these last times.  I am always with you.  Do not feel that you are alone.  Even if you must carry the cross of misunderstandings, of abandonments and of opposition, I am always close to you. I am with you at each moment, and I am helping you carry the cross which the Lord is asking of you for the salvation of those who have been entrusted to you.  In the safe refuge of my Immaculate Heart, you will find your peace, and you will experience that joy which only Jesus knows how to give you”. (24/1/96)

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In the Canto of Paradise, Dante Alighieri saw a multitude of Saints who were praising the name of Mary:

Saw I, above the myriads of lamps,

a Sun that one and all of them enkindled,

e'en as our own doth the supernal sights,

“…There is the Rose in which the Word Divine
became incarnate; there the lilies are
by whose perfume the good way was discovered”…

Thus did the circulated melody
Seal itself up; and all the other lights
Were making to resound the name of Mary.